News from around the world

I have been very American-centric lately so I thought I would round up some news from across the globe

• Check out Women Who Serve for coverage of the Pan-American Games where Milagros Sequera from Venezuela and ranked 50 on the WTA tour won the gold.
• Also regarding the Pan-American Games, I was watching ESPN2 on Sunday waiting for some tennis when I caught a bit of the women's beach volleyball final between Cuba and Brazil. And it was in Spanish. I know ESPN has a Spanish-language channel but I was surprised to see them import that coverage to ESPN2. I don't speak Spanish but it was pretty easy to get the gist of what they were saying; "Fantastico!!" is not that hard to translate. So kudos to ESPN for doing a Spanish-language broadcast on a "regular" (the apostrophes are there to indicate the problematics with associating regular and normal with English-speaking) channel.


• In Dubai, the Al Ahli sports club that sponsors football (aka soccer) has formed a committee to investigate adding sports for women including volleyball, basketball, and handball.


• The Bahrain National Table Tennis Team won the recent GCC Table Tennis Championships held in Kuwait. The team was lead by 19-year old Ala'a Hegres who won her singles and doubles match and felt the win would bolster recognition for the female athletes of Bahrain: "Women in our country are now rising in sports competitions in the region and around the world. It is good because everyone can see what we are capable of, and I hope we can continue our progress and good results."


• The Women Sport and Fitness Foundation of Malaysia awarded its Women and Sport Award to Youth and Sports Minister Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said. She is the first female sports minister and since taking her post in 2004 she has significantly increased Malaysian women's participation in sports. Some of the increase is due to Azalina's creation of The Women Games which encouraged women's participation at the grassroots level.
• And in sad news for Zimbabwe, none of their team sports (field hockey, basketball, or soccer) was able to qualify for next year's Olympic Games.